Alumni Perspectives

The University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences had the largest gathering of University of Colorado alumni, faculty, staff, and students at this year’s Homecoming Tailgate and CU Buffs football game with over 160 people. Read More

CU Pharmacy alumnus Richard Onufrock balanced two worlds – the worlds of pharmacy and art. Throughout his life, the graduate of the Class of 1961 worked as a pharmacist and an accomplished illustrator. Read More

On Monday, August 6, 2018, Dr. Steven Henke, a 2018 graduate of the PharmD program at CU Pharmacy passed away unexpectedly. In his obituary, his family says he passed due to complications from a muscle deterioration disease. Read More

When Erlynn Frankson was a teen, her grandfather moved in with her family so her mother could take care of him. “She was a nurse and the most equipped of her five siblings to be his caregiver,” says Frankson.

Frankson experienced palliative and hospice care on a personal level. It’s what she came home to after school every day and shaped who she is today. “I saw suffering and it stuck with me 10-20 years down the road.” Read More

Having spent the last seven years earning his PharmD through the Distance Degrees & Programs, Lokendra Upadhyay is ecstatic to be able to spend his weekends not studying. “For me, it’s been a great investment of time and energy,” says Upadhyay.

Twenty-five years ago, Upadhyay had the opportunity to tack one more year onto his BS and obtain his PharmD from CU but declined. “I was ready to get out and start earning money. In retrospect, it would have been a lot easier, but then I wouldn’t have all my life experiences,” says Upadhyay. Read More

Sue and Tim Mead (CU Pharmacy alums ’79 and ’75 respectively), together with their daughters, have built a strong family bond by building houses for others. “In addition to learning how to roof, stucco and cut wood, the experience taught us how to give back, to see that we are part of a bigger world, and to reflect on how much we have,” says Sue Mead. Read More

As a military combat veteran, I had a strong desire to pursue a career where I could continue serving the greater good. The Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service (USPHS) has provided me an incredible opportunity to do so as a pharmacist. Read More

Oncology pharmacists are in high demand. By 2020 cancer patient visits will increase by 48% with only a 14% increase in oncologists, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges Center for Workforce Studies. Oncology pharmacists can help offset this projected shortfall in patient visits. Read More

It’s hard to believe that recent CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy graduate Adam McHenry was ever a problem child. As an eighth grader, McHenry was a handful. “I didn’t care if I was in class or not. I hung out with the wrong crowd,” says McHenry.

One day, the school called his parents and told them that they had not seen him for a while. “The next month, my parents enrolled me in a Lutheran school. It turned my life around.” Read More

“Having my daughter and I obtain doctorates at the same time is a seminal moment,” says Maumi Villarreal. She and her husband, Daniel, are both first generation college graduates and have modeled a college education to their daughters — Sarah and Chelsea. “Our parents are very proud of us,” says Villarreal.

Villarreal passed on her love of pharmacy to her eldest daughter, when Sarah would help her mom at the local ASHP meetings. Read More

Can you imagine total silence or hearing only muffled conversations? “You adapt,” says recent CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy graduate Lauren Kirchner. “But there is an advantage. Patients think I am really engaging with them because I am concentrating on their lips and hearing what they have to say.”

And in a career that requires patient interaction, being attentive is a plus. Read More

Creator and host of the Talk Pharmacy podcast, Ahsun Babalmorad is a natural when it comes to interviewing his subjects. The program, which airs on iTunes, provides listeners with interviews of students and faculty, offering insights into the world of pharmacy and the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy.

Of Iranian heritage, Babalmorad comes by his ability to talk — and more importantly to listen — naturally. His father worked for an American oil company prior to the Iranian revolution in the 1970s and was sent to study engineering in the US. While here, the revolution broke out back home, so his father and mother decided to stay and raise a family. “At that time, my parents saw more opportunity in the US than in their home country,” says Babalmorad, a first generation American and Colorado native. Read More

After attaining his bachelor of biomedical sciences from Western Michigan, Ross Osgood took some time off to figure out what he really wanted to do.

“I was kind of on a pre-med track,” says Osgood.

“I bounced around between med school, dental and PA programs – not really feeling like any of them were the right fit.” So, he shadowed dentists and worked in a nursing home, but still was unconvinced that any of those allied health care careers were right for him. “But when I started doing research, it just clicked.”

During the year between undergrad and grad school, he missed the deadline to sign up for dental school, so he joined Americorps instead. Read More

When she was 10 years old, a classmate and friend was diagnosed with a brain tumor. At age 15, her friend died. “It was the first time I had ever heard the word cancer and that really left an imprint on me,” says Pittman.

“Since high school I knew I wanted a career in health care, specifically pediatric oncology,” says Pittman. Read More

Today, the University of Colorado Anschutz celebrated graduating its 10,000th student in the health and health care disciplines since relocating to its present campus in 2009. And, brothers Jonathan and Jefferey Chheuy, who graduated from CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences were two of them.

Born just 13 months apart, the Chheuy brothers are very close, and that’s a good thing since the two have been confused with each other their entire lives. Read More

MaLaura Creager has experienced quite a lot in her life. She and her brother are the first in their family to obtain bachelors’ degrees. And, MaLaura will be the first to attain her Doctor of Pharmacy degree when she graduates from CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy later this week. “My family is so, so proud,” says Creager, who will have her own cheering section at Commencement when 20 family members descend on Colorado to share her excitement. “They are so impressed that I will be a pharmacist.”

For Creager, the mantra “it’s not if you go to college, but when” that many families embrace was not reality. Read More

The state of Colorado and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus are joining forces to fight prescription drug abuse and the opioid epidemic, with the state allocating $1 million to the university to create a new center that will focus on the crisis.

Approximately 750 high school and post-secondary students from around the state of Colorado recently participated in a state conference organized by the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA). Among the 15 exhibitors representing health science related organizations was the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Read More

“I never thought I had an entrepreneurial bone in my body. Boy, was I wrong,” says alumna Mei Tang, PharmD ’07.

As a working pharmacist specializing in hospital pharmacy and managed care pharmacy, Tang decided to pursue her PharmD through CU’s distance program and attained her doctorate in ’07. “I worked and lived in Michigan full-time, so a distance program was really the only option. It was a perfect match for my situation and the right fit for me. It was a tremendous step forward in my career,” says Tang. Read More